Pal Alissa Smith on HAMPTONS.COM

Updated: March 03, 2008 3:44pm

Dressmaker Smith Takes A New Look At Vintage Wear
By Mariah Quinn

Alissa Smith opened her eponymous store on Nugent Street in August of 2006. Photos by Mariah Quinn

Southampton - Five years ago Alissa Smith discovered the benefit of wearing her own designs in public. The young Southampton designer walked into a store called Apollo Braun on Orchard Street in Manhattan wearing an outfit she had made, and walked out with an order to make five more of the same.

“I was wearing a piece I had made and the owner loved it,” she said. He wanted to feature the sequined dress in the store, and Smith’s career as an independent designer began.

Many of Smith’s designs, including the green item above, use vintage fabrics.

The 27-year-old native of Southampton, whose store, Smith on Nugent Street in Southampton, started sewing after taking a quilting class while in the first grade, and “would make weird bags for people” from a young age, Smith recalled. She began making her own clothing while in high school, and in college combined her love of theatre and clothing design by studying costume design at Emerson College in Boston for two years. She soon made the move to fashion design, studying at the School of Fashion Design in Boston and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

After selling her clothing line at several boutiques in Manhattan, Smith opened her store in Southampton in August of 2006. During the winter, she carries different designers, in addition to her own clothing line, while in the summer her work takes the forefront. Some of the designers featured at her store have been friends of Smith’s for years, others she has found at design fairs in the City; all are independent. The store has attracted a strong following. “Business has been really good,” Smith said. “Surprisingly even now it’s been busy.”

Smith says she draws her inspiration from the past, both in design and fabrics. Her work is “very feminine, it’s a lot of vintage fabrics, but delicate ones,” Smith said. “I’m very inspired by the 1930s and 1940s, with pastel colors, kind of dreamy.” Her theatre background also plays a role in the clothing. “I find a lot of inspiration through ballet books,” she added. “I love the whole aesthetic of ballerinas.” Smith uses vintage materials she finds at estate sales, raw silk from California and other unusual fabrics in her designs.

Smith had an internship with Betsey Johnson while in college, and considers the designer of flirty, feminine clothing as one of her touchstones. Marc Jacobs and Vera Wang are also among Smith’s favorites. Smith’s latest collection drew from the musical world, specifically the song “Cosmia” by singer Joanna Newsom, which Smith described as a “lulling melody” on which she based her designs.

Smith makes all of her clothes, and said her aesthetic is influenced by designs from the 1930s and 1940s.

Smith makes all of her clothes by hand, custom designing outfits as well as creating two lines of looks for the summer and winter seasons. A custom-designed dress generally takes one to two weeks to make, and Smith helps lead her clients in the right direction, melding her vision with theirs. “It’s a collaboration between me and the customer,” she said. “I like the one-on-one work with the them.”

In a community that relies heavily on the summer clientèle, Smith said her customers include many locals. “It is a really great, strong local following, which I didn’t expect at all,” she said. Her regulars include local high school students, and, Smith said, “It’s awesome that they can appreciate things that I do - things hand done.”

In addition to her regular line, Smith plans to focus on a line of wedding dresses for the near future, with four made and a fifth in the works. She plans to remain independent, and likes to work with others of the same mindset. “Everyone is doing it themselves, and nothing is mass produced,” she explained. “There is no middle person.”